A design built to last: the 2009 Mac Pro

Apr 16, 2018

Few weeks ago, Anthony Casella at iMore.com wrote a splendid and ongoing review of the 2009 Mac Pro.
The Mac Pros inherited their design from the 2003 Powermac G5 before them. From mactracker:

[PowerMac G5] housed in an innovative new Aluminum enclosure, [it] was the first 64-bit consumer-level desktop computer ever sold.

That aluminum case was great: lift a lever on the rear to unlock one of the sidings, remove the panel, and with no screwdriver of sort you were given access to the inner marvelings of that docile monster.
I have never owned one, but sold many for a friend of mine who has a graphic studio, and the ease with which I were always able to clean, check and fix them always left me amazed. Especially compared to the care I need to put in disassembling even the easiest Mac mini or Macbook Pro component. Of course they are meant for very different uses, and with the Mini taking only 3% the volume of a G5, it surely needed some big engineering effort to make it all fit. But still, the Pros' internal layout is remarkable.

What surely amazed me most, is the forward thinking with which they built that machine. 2009 is almost 10 years ago, and maybe even older Mac Pros would make someone case. Upgrading is longevity, and after 2013 hit, it seems Apple is taking this into consideration for the new Mac Pro.

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